I conduct research in the areas of international development and trade, impact assessment, agricultural production economics, and resource and environmental economics. My research develops and applies methods for evaluating social and economic impacts of agricultural technologies and policies, for assessing the economic benefits of integrated pest management programs, and for setting agricultural research priorities. I have conducted research and extension in more than 35 countries in Latin America, Africa, and Asia and have advised more than 70 graduate students and involved more than 35 undergraduates in my research program. I work with several national and international agricultural research institutions.

Role of Graduate Students

I have advised more than 70 Masters and Ph.D. students on thesis research related to international agricultural development and trade, agricultural research evaluation and priority setting, economics of integrated pest management, and impact assessment of agricultural technologies.

Faculty Service Award, Virginia Tech College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, 2017

Lifetime Achievement Award, 8th International IPM Symposium, 2015

Publication of Enduring Quality, 2015, from the American Agricultural Economics Association for book co-authored with Julian Alston and Philip Pardey, Science Under Scarcity: Principles and Practice for Agricultural Research Evaluation and Priority Setting (Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1995)

International Plant Protection Award of Distinction, presented as a group award to the Virginia Tech-led Integrated Pest Management Innovation Laboratory at the XVIII International Plant Protection Congress in Berlin, 2015

Certificate of Excellence for Educational Materials, Council for Agricultural Science and Technology, 2011

International IPM Excellence Award, presented at the 6th International IPM Symposium, 2009

Alumni Award for Excellence in International Outreach and Research, Virginia Tech, 2001

First place, essay competition sponsored by the International Food Policy Research Institute, co-authored essay with Jeffrey Alwang, Policy for Plenty: Measuring the Benefits of Policy-Oriented Social Science Research. 1996

Committee Chair for the thesis Estimating Environmental and Human Health Benefits of Reducing Pesticide Use Through Integrated pest Management Programs, by Jeffrey D. Mullen, which received an American Agricultural Economics Association Outstanding M.S. Thesis Award, 1996

Quality of Research Discovery, Honorable Mention, 1996 from the American Agricultural Economics Association for book co-authored with Julian Alston and Philip Pardey, Science Under Scarcity: Principles and Practice for Agricultural Research Evaluation and Priority Setting (Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1995)

Quality of Communication Award for 1994 from the American Agricultural Economics Association for book coauthored with Jeffrey Alwang, Introduction to Economics of Agricultural Development (New York: McGraw Hill, 1993)

Committee Chair for the dissertation Pesticide Regulatory Actions and the Development of Pest Resistance: A Dynamic Bioeconomic Model, by Richard F. Kazmierczak Jr., which received an American Agricultural Economics Association Outstanding Ph.D. Dissertation Award, 1992

Committee co-chair for the dissertation An Analysis of the Sources of Growth in French Agriculture, 1960-1984, by Frederic C. Bouchet, which received an American Agricultural Economics Association Outstanding Ph.D. Dissertation Award, 1988

Chala, Zelalem, George Norton and Jason Grant. "Economic Significance of Selective Export promotion for Poverty Reduction and Inter-Industry Growth of Ethiopia: Policy Analysis Based on a case Study of Cut-flower and Coffee Industries", Ethiopian Journal of Business and Economics, 2(1) (2011): 34-59.

Alwang, Jeffrey and George W. Norton, “What Types of Safety Nets Would be Most Efficient and Effective for Protecting Small Farmers and the poor Against Volatile Food Prices?” Journal of Food Security: 3 (Suppl 1) (2011): S139- S148.